Fort Worth was once proclaimed by Will Rogers as the place “where the West begins.” Those not from Fort Worth may have a vision of Fort Worth as a place of cowboys and large hats, but the city has much more to offer. It is a city of culture, shopping, museums, ranches, rodeos and sports. It is also a city with a rich history of paranormal activity and unexplained phenomenon. If a visit to Fort Worth is in your future and you have a yearning for some spooky adventures, be sure to include the following haunts in your itinerary.
Looking at Fort Worth today, you would never think that any part of this thriving city would ever have had a name like “Hell’s Half Acre,” but, in fact, during the 19th century, there was such an area. Home to such sinful establishments as brothels, saloons and gambling spots, this area is now home to the popular restaurant Del Frisco’s Steakhouse. The building that now houses the restaurant once housed a bathhouse. Legend has it that a man who was at the bathhouse bathing was shot through the head and killed. Employees and patrons of this establishment report that they have seen the apparition of this man in both the upstairs bar and banquet room lurking about.
Once a family-run hotel, then a bookstore and now an antique store, Barber’s Books is full of unexplained paranormal activity. The history of this building is quite diverse with local’s tales of what once occurred in this building. Some say that one of the previous owners caught his daughter having a relationship with a local young man and shot the man dead, causing the daughter to hang herself soon after. Others feel that the storage rooms full of antiques and old books carry with them spiritual remnants of previous owners, while others feel acts of violence were once committed in the corridors of the building. Whatever may have happened in this building, spirits still remain. Paranormal investigators report catching unexplained orbs in photographs throughout the building and experiencing cold spots in different areas, as well. Employees and patrons of the store often hear footsteps ascending and descending the stairwells, while others hear books slamming shut and pages of books being turned in areas of the building that are vacant. Some also report hearing distinctive whispers when nobody is around.
Billy Scott is the man behind the Scott Theater in Fort Worth, and some say he was so dedicated to financing the theater that his spirit stuck around even after he succumbed to lung cancer. Some say that when the theater had its grand opening, paintings that came from Billy Scott’s personal collection were hung on the walls. Legend has it that these paintings would shift on their own, as if Scott’s spirit was roaming the halls straightening the pictures from the grave. Employees of the theater often hear other-worldly cackling coming from the theater’s basement and attribute it to the spirit of an actor who once worked in the building. The story goes that the actor, a man named Ken Yandell, hung himself from a pipe in the theater’s basement and now spends his time lurking around the hallways in the basement.
